


Victim: At Least I'm Not the Villain

by TheLittlestShinigami



Category: Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
Genre: Gen, Spoilers for Ty and Nos-4-A2 episodes, Trauma, coping and recovery, injuries, wirewolf stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-22
Updated: 2013-07-22
Packaged: 2017-12-20 23:44:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 14,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/893307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLittlestShinigami/pseuds/TheLittlestShinigami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ty Parsec is reinstated after the demise of Nos-4-A2, but is a byword among his peers, something strange is going on with his body and Buzz still humiliates him on a regular basis. Oh, and Zurg has found a surefire way to destroy Capitol Planet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sore

Ty closed his small gym locker, slung a towel over his shoulder and stepped into the Star Command fitness center. It had been two weeks since the wirewolf fiasco and the demise of Nos-4-A2, and he still ached from it. Ty stepped towards the stretching mat, dropped the towel and reached for his tennis shoes. His calves pulled when his hands were a foot above the floor. Wow. He needed to stretch more often. Last time he had a serious work out was before the incident on Canis Lunis. Man, that sounded so long ago.

He straightened up. Well, the wirewolf nightmare was over. Ty reached for his toes and a ranger came up beside him and copied his position, except his hands brushed the tops of his shoes.

"Stretching in front of the mirror before weight training," the man said. "Just like the Academy days, huh?"

Ty knew the voice by heart and he sighed. Buzz had mellowed out with regard to references to rescues since the death of Nos-4-A2, and Ty could tell he was truly trying not to be so overbearing. Yet still, he was. Buzz just couldn't help appearing superior to Ty and Ty couldn't help constantly trying to prove him wrong. He no longer hated Buzz as he had before, but he still hated how easy it was for Buzz to flaunt his incredible resume. Again, it wasn't Buzz's fault for being an exemplary ranger, but it sure wouldn't hurt to do a better job at concealing it.

"Hi, Buzz," Ty greeted flatly, trying to keep the bite from his voice. He grabbed the towel and headed for the track. "I was just going jogging."

"Well great!" Buzz laughed, slapping him on the back. "I was going to start my work out with a run as well."

They walked by the strength training equipment and exercising rangers, stepping over hand weights and dodging medicine balls. Ty stepped through the doorway to the track first and slung his towel over the railing as he stepped onto the red rubber path.

Ty glanced at Buzz and made sure to start running before him. Just focus on your run, he told himself. Forget about Buzz. He pumped his arms and turned the first corner, looking back at Buzz as he did so. Blast! He was closing in.

Ty ran faster, leaving Buzz further back. In the Academy, running had been Ty's thing. He didn't often win in hand-to-hand combat, but few recruits could beat him in a race, whether it be sprinting or cross country. It was one of the only activities he dominated in. He glanced back and saw Buzz catching up, so he picked up his feet and pumped his arms harder. Not this time, Buzz, he thought and took deeper breaths. Buzz followed ten yards behind, smiling pleasantly. Ty knew it was just an act. Buzz was terribly competitive and there was no doubt that he was trying to overtake him.

Ty's knees and hips hadn't loosened up yet and began to ache. He breathed heavily and pushed himself faster. A hurdle came into view and Ty switched lanes to line up with it. If Buzz passed him, it would be because Ty had been jumping hurdles: there was no shame in that, especially since Ty was an excellent jumper as well.

As he closed in on the hurdle, he prepared his footing and tensed his muscles. Ty jumped but his legs were too slow in tucking and his foot caught the top of the hurdle, causing him to fall flat on his face. He struggled to his feet just as Buzz slowed to a stop beside him.

"You okay, buddy?" Buzz asked with concern. Was Ty forever doomed to humiliation?

"I'm alright," Ty replied, brushing himself off.

"It's not like you to miss a hurdle," Buzz mentioned. 'You have the fastest feet I know."

Ty's pride was healed a bit by the remark. "Really?"

"Sure," Buzz assured, punching Ty's shoulder.

Buzz was trying, at least.

"I didn't have much breakfast," Ty confessed, attempting to be kind to his old friend. "Maybe I need to eat something else." He flexed his stiff elbows.

"I was just headed to the mess hall myself," Buzz said laying a hand on Ty's shoulder. "We could do breakfast."

Ty shook it off. "I have energy bars in my room. I'll just eat one of those."

Buzz shrugged. "Whatever fuels your rockets, Ty. Call me if you need anything." With that, Buzz slung his towel over his shoulder and went back into the weight room.

Ty watched Buzz leave and felt ashamed. He didn't want Buzz to take care of him, yet when Buzz didn't, Ty was offended. What was Buzz to do? Ty felt like a needy little kid. It wasn't Buzz's fault that Ty wasn't great relationally, and yet in a way, it was. Ty was the butt of many jokes circulating within Star Command, which Buzz helped pass along – hopefully unintentionally, given how clueless Buzz could be. At least the majority of Star Command had shifted their looks of amusement to disappointment of late: a slight improvement. At least they took him seriously, though it was too bad his name was forever tied to that of Nos-4-A2.

Buzz and his team didn't look on him with scorn. Probably because they had been there, and they knew how little control he had had over himself. Mira had mentioned it to some of the other rangers, but it didn't help Ty's reputation much.

Ty walked through the weight room and spotted Buzz on the bench press. Clearly he hadn't intended on going to breakfast, or maybe he didn't think his pecks were large enough. He entered the locker room and opened his locker, his fingers faintly aching. He rolled his tense shoulders and flexed his knees. He must have hurt himself falling over the hurdle.

As Ty walked down the hallway, his knees nearly buckled. Paranoid as he was about discovering something seriously wrong with himself so soon after being reinstated, Ty figured he should get himself checked out, just to put his mind at ease.

He turned aside and into the medical clinic and stepped up to the receptionist's counter, getting the attention of a green plant-like woman. She tried to conceal it, but Ty could tell she was replaying the wirewolf report in her mind.

"I'd like to see Dr. Gorak," Ty explained leaning on the counter, trying to appear calm.

The woman glanced at his elbow.

"You're bleeding," she noted.

Ty followed her gaze and noticed the scrape on his elbow, wet with blood. He removed it from the counter and quickly wiped away the blood from the plastic surface with his towel.

"It's nothing," he assured her. "I just um… fell." Ty hoped the receptionist wasn't a gossip because that information could easily fuel another batch of jokes. "Which is actually why I wanted to see the doctor. Is he available?"

The receptionist read over the schedule for the day and nodded.

"Dr. Gorak has half an hour before his next appointment. I'll see if he can take you." She stood and disappeared through an automatic door.

Ty glanced around the empty waiting room and stepped towards a nearby chair, easing into it with some trouble. He felt like an old man. No sooner had he gotten comfortable than Dr. Gorak, a large jolly creature with the complexion of a gourd, came through the sliding door beside him.

"Ty Parsec!" he greeted. Ty struggled up from the chair. "I haven't seen you since your examination two weeks ago."

Ty finally made it to his feet and shook the doctor's hand. Dr. Gorak's brow furrowed.

"That's quite a fight you put up to get out of the chair," he mentioned.

"That's what I wanted to ask you about," said Ty as they traveled toward one of the examination rooms. "My joints have been very stiff lately and they hurt when I move them." He sat on the smooth, plastic table. "It's probably just persistently sore muscles, but I wanted to make sure, after… well…"

"Yes, I know," Dr. Gorak replied, pulling gloves over his seven-fingered hands. He removed a scanner from the wall and turned it on. "This will check for lactic acid and scar tissue buildup," he explained. "Please lie down." Ty obeyed and Dr. Gorak shone the beam on Ty's chest, slowly moving it over his arms and down to his feet. The doctor was silent as he read the screen.

"Well," he said as he turned off the scanner and Ty sat back up. "All I can see is a bit of lactic acid buildup. Nothing to worry about."

"Oh," Ty said, relieved.

"However," the doctor continued. "given what your body has gone through lately, I'd suggest spending some time in the physical therapy unit. An hour a day this week, just to be certain."

Ty thanked him and went to the receptionist to get a copy of Dr. Gorak's orders and to set up the first appointment. Physical therapy wouldn't help prove to the other rangers that he was capable. If he had broken his back, it would have been honorable. But who ever heart of going to physical therapy for sore muscles? It made him look like a wimp and Ty didn't need help in that area.


	2. Out

Ty lay in a heavy metal suit on the table in the physical therapy ward. The suit was what all the physical therapists were using these days: a gentle hum, calm electrical current and the muscles were forced to relax. The therapist didn't even stay in the same room. She had put Ty in the suit, turned it on and declared she would be back in an hour.

Ty counted the ceiling tiles and hummed the ditty floating around inside his head. He glanced at the clock: fifteen minutes more.

When he had handed the Dr. Gorak's note to Commander Nebula, he had been laughed at by the rangers standing around. Well, not laughed at, per say, but smiled at with shifty eyes that seemed to ask: "Is he serious? How weak can he be?" Ty probably should have given Nebula the note in his office instead of the command deck.

"Come on," Ty groaned under his breath as he stared at the clock. "Move faster!"

His first mission was in an hour. It was traffic duty, but at least he was seeing some action. A month ago he would have done all he could to get out of such a menial task, declaring his skills were being wasted, but that day all he wanted was to go out there and fix those traffic beacons. He wanted to prove he was still a space ranger and that nothing had changed. He glanced at the clock again: thirteen minutes left.

"Hurry up, will you?" he commanded the clock and suit. "I have places to be."

The humming died away. Ty listened, waiting for the suit to turn on again, but it did not: even the lights were off.

"Um, doctor?" Ty called towards the open door. "Doctor, I think I'm done."

The doctor came in, surprised.

"Has it been an hour already?" she asked, stepping into the room and approaching the table. She inspected the machine.

"Well no, it hasn't," Ty admitted, hoping she wouldn't make him stay there or put him in a new machine. "But the machine shut off. It finished early, I guess."

"It shut off because the battery's dead," she corrected, pressing the buttons without response. "I'm sure I charged it this week... Well, your time was almost up anyway, so we'll just call it a day."

Ty sat up and spread his arms so the doctor could unstrap him. The doctor removed the suit and carried it to the wall, setting it on a different table and plugging an inch-thick cable into the back.

"I'll recharge this and see you tomorrow," she said, clearly still confused.

Ty had gotten his wish, so he didn't press the matter. He slid down from the table, put his coat on, saluted and left. He felt better, refreshed, but he figured the therapy would have done something about his muscles. Maybe it took some time to kick in. In the meantime, Ty had traffic duty.

XXX

Ty dressed into his ranger suit and checked the time: he had just enough to get out to the remote location he had been assigned. He couldn't help feeling that Commander Nebula was still hesitant to trust him. Ty set his jaw firmly: he would prove his loyalty with this mission. This would be the most commendable, thorough, heroic traffic beacon duty ever undertaken.

Ty walked through the corridor interspersed with other rangers. Their heads turned towards him as he passed by like nails to a magnet. He pretended not to notice and walked faster towards his star cruiser, or at least the one he would be using. Ty didn't actually have one reserved only for him and his team – mainly because he didn't have a team.

As he approached star cruiser number thirteen, he saw a gangly young ranger leaning on the railing of the docks, peering down into the pit of machinery from down below the ships. Ty hoped he wasn't spitting into the expanse.

He had forgotten he was taking a rookie on his traffic beacon duty. Hey, it was nice Commander Nebula trusted him enough for that.

When Ty approached, the young man jumped back from the edge and quickly wiped his mouth. Ty rolled his eyes but put on a smile as he closed the gap and held out his hand.

"Hello. My name is—"

"Ty Parsec," the rookie finished energetically shaking his hand. "I know. I've read all the major ranger files. I'm Blayne Luna."

Ty was pleased to be considered a major ranger, but deflated a bit when he realized it was only because of the wirewolf thing. He was beginning to wonder if he would ever live that down.

"Hm, well that's…uh… that's… something," Ty muttered as he walked past Blayne and into the ship. The blonde rookie bounded after him.

"I've never been on beacon duty before," he announced. "Do we run into very many felons? Is there any combat?"

Ty chuckled to himself. "I think you'll be alright so long as you keep your wrist laser handy."

Blayne was silent for a moment and Ty smiled wickedly as he climbed the ladder up into the star cruiser.

The area they had been assigned took hours to reach, all of which was filled with Blayne's questions and personal stories brought on by Ty's mistake in asking the rookie how his year had been going. The rookie had finished his time at the Academy less than a year ago. One year! Traffic duty was obviously among the least risk missions available. Out in the black vacuum of space, as out in the middle of nowhere as possible, a string of traffic beacons blinked in a one hundred mile line interspersed with several asteroids. Fortunately, they were only checking ten of those miles.

After tutoring Blayne quickly on the procedure of checking traffic beacons, Ty offered that they start from opposite ends and meet in the middle. As a result, Ty had some rest from Blayne's chatter as he checked the fuel gauge of his first beacon.

Ty had had beacon duty before, so he expected it to be the usual waste-of-time, struggling-to-stay-awake experience it usually was, but that time it was different. He felt… good, dare he say it. Better than he did waking up that morning. His joints still hurt, but he felt energized and healthy. If a fugitive passed that way, he had no doubt he'd be able to stop him. Well, a little doubt thanks to his many failures. But he felt better than he had since… Ty frowned. …Since he was first bitten by Nos-4-A2.

"Come in, Ranger Parsec," Blayne's voice came through the communicator built into Ty's suit.

So he's found the communicator, Ty thought jokingly as he held up his own. "Parsec here."

"Permission to explore the asteroid in my path."

Ty looked up from his communicator and scanned the asteroids. He saw Blayne standing on one reasonably close by. The kid should not be climbing on rocks: he should be checking traffic beacons. Ty was not about to do the whole job himself, no matter how good he felt.

"We didn't come out here to play, Blayne," Ty stated into his wrist communicator as he flew to the next cone-shaped beacon. "These beacons need checking and the sooner they are, the sooner we can jet back to Star Command." Static filled Ty's ears and after a few seconds of listening, Ty pressed the communication button again. "Blayne, are you there?"

"Yes, Ranger Parsec," Blayne's voice came through the static. "But I think one of our communicators is busted."

Ty hadn't used his suit for a while. Maybe it was his. His throat tightened. The response surprised him. Did the fact that he, the more experienced ranger, was the one with the problem bother him that much?

"It might be mine," Ty confessed through the pressure in his throat. "It hasn't gone in for maintenance for a long time." The static was nearly deafening. "But it's okay. We can see each other. If something happens, you can just wave for me to come over."

"I didn't catch…could you rep— I'm losing—" was all Ty heard through the static.

Ty breathed more deeply, to get the lump out of his throat, only to find that the extra oxygen was not present. This wasn't a lump.

His suit was losing power.

Ty gasped for air, his lungs burning.

"I'm losing power!" he coughed frantically into the communicator, but all he got back was static. He tried again, but there was no response at all.

His head felt vacuum packed and his ears buzzed. Ty knew the symptoms well, regrettably: he was passing out. The last sight his eyes picked up as his senses retreated from the physical world was the far off light of Blayne's jetpack.


	3. Rescue

The first connection repaired between Ty and reality was pain. A pounding between his temples like a pool ball in a sock hitting his eyes from behind again and again. Beneath the pain, a cold pressure railed against the lower half of his face and some of it was forced down his aching throat. Slowly, the sound in Ty's ears registered. A wind tunnel's roar and behind that, male voices, one frantic and young, the other gruff and loud. He coughed against the forceful air and sat up reflexively, causing Blayne who had been crouched over him to fall back.

They were on the floor of star cruiser thirteen. The ship was stationary, no one available to fly it. Ty tore off the breathing mask and looked around, stunned and trying to understand what had just happened. He was wearing his ranger suit, but the helmet had been forced open just enough to reveal his face and get an air mask over his nose and mouth.

The muscles in Ty's stomach and back were not prepared for his sudden burst to a sitting position and Ty wobbled, trying to catch himself on his hands. Instead, Blayne caught him and tried to lay him back down flat, but Ty stopped him.

"I can sit just fine," he growled in annoyance at Blayne.

"Ty," Commander Nebula's voice barked from the transmission screen. When Ty glanced up at it, he saw the man had a scowl beneath his mustache to match his quick, disciplined voice. "Give the kid some respect. If it weren't for him, you'd be spiraling out into space, dead as an asteroid."

Ty's ears burned and he looked away from the commander. Now rookies were saving him? Next it would be civilians.

Blayne, looking a little hurt by Ty's harshness, loosened his grip on the ranger's shoulders. "Your suit had powered down," the rookie explained diplomatically. "So I got you back to the star cruiser and opened your helmet. It didn't even have enough electricity in it to open automatically."

The stillness among the three intensified Ty's sense of unease. That made two pieces of electrical equipment that had gone dead on him that day. Coincidence? He certainly hoped so, and yet never had his electronics lost power so quickly or frequently. Ty held up his hand gloved in his heavy white and green suit. He turned it before his face in wonder. His ranger suit had never lost power on its own: it was like the electricity had been sucked out of it—

No. Ty would not believe that. He got to his feet, legs shaking less from his near death experience and more from fear. Blayne held his shoulder and arm to keep him standing, but Ty swatted the rookie away. Ty's legs still had the consistency of noodles, though, and he fell into the nearest chair, cringing at his arthritis. Yes. That's all it was: just an early case of arthritis. Nothing weird about that. Lots of rangers steadily involved in physically taxing missions struggled with it. Ty couldn't name any off the top of his head… but he was sure there were plenty. And just like them, Ty had gone through many very difficult situations.

"Something strange has been going on with you, son," Nebula continued, a concern in his eyes. "Once Buzz and his team get there to escort you both back to Star Command, I'm having the LGMs do an extensive examination on you."

Ty's jaw dropped and his gloved fingers scraped the hard gray armrests as he clenched them. "But Commander-" he protested.

Nebula held up a hand to silence him. "It's nothing against you, Ty; don't get all uppity. I'd like to think there's nothing sinister going on as much as you, but we've got to be realistic. There might be side effects to your time spent as a wirewolf."

Ty's heart increased its pace and he breathed deeper, trying not to let his comrades see the panic bubbling beneath his surface. That couldn't be it… it wasn't! The radioactive moon had been destroyed, every little piece. He hadn't been in contact since it was destroyed and hadn't even looked at pictures of it for weeks. The wirewolf nightmare was over. It was over!

He glanced at Blayne who was leaning against the control panel, trying to appear more interested in the black ridged rubber floor than in the conversation.

"They already checked me out and didn't find anything," Ty protested with as much respect as he could muster. "And that was immediately after the…uh…episodes. If anything were wrong, they would have found it then!"

"Ty, there isn't a rule book for this situation. As far as we know, you are the first wirewolf to exist-"

"I am not a wirewolf!" Ty corrected, bringing his fist down hard on the armrest.

"Get a hold of yourself, ranger," Nebula said, keeping his voice in check. He stood straighter and his frown deepened. "When Buzz takes you back to Star Command, let the LGM's do their job. And when they do, keep your mouth shut unless you have something helpful to say. That is an order."

Ty clenched his jaw and sighed. "Yes, Commander."

Nebula nodded in finality. "I'll see you soon, ranger. You too, Blayne. Nebula out." And the transmission ended.

Ty tried to rest his head on his hand, but his helmet got in the way. He grabbed the edge of the glass and tried to force it to retract completely. After a few seconds, he realized Blayne was watching him. The rookie was probably creeped out beyond belief and expecting a metal wolf to burst forth from Ty's chest at any moment. Ty stood.

"I'm going to go change into a different suit," he explained pointing towards the doors in the back.

Blayne nodded silently.

Ty left through the sliding doors and walked down the short hallway to a storage closet. On the middle shelf lay three space suits in different sizes folded in a row. Ty took the one in the middle and looked for a bathroom in which to change. He passed the two empty holding cells and paused, turning toward the one on his right. Gripping one of the bars, he wondered how sturdy they were. Deeper down, though he wouldn't acknowledge even to himself that he was thinking it, he wondered if it could hold him.

He found the closet sized bathroom and shut himself into it. Bumping his elbows and knees on the walls, and every other surface, he finally stripped to his gray and purple under suit and unfolded the new, fully functional space suit. Once he had it on, he felt refreshed, except his joints still hurt. Of course he would: a dead space suit didn't circulate air. And yet he worried.

Ty sat on the toilet and cradled his head in his hands, closing his eyes and listening to himself breathe. He hadn't noticed it before, but there was a strange vibrating edge to each inhale, like something was lodged in his chest. He coughed, but nothing shook loose. He hoped it was just an oncoming cold, but his capacity for optimism was steadily wearing thin.

Something large attached itself to the ship and caused the floor to rumble. Ty opened his eyes. He heard footsteps and the familiar, far-too-jovial voice of Buzz Lightyear. Ty eased to his feet, kicked his old space suit out of the way and pushed open the sliding door. He walked towards the bridge and by the number of voices, it was apparent the whole team had come aboard and were already talking with Blayne. This didn't count as a rescue and if Buzz said as much, Ty swore he would punch him in the face.

Ty hesitated at the sliding door a moment to regain his composure and then walked through as though he had not been suffocating ten minutes before.

"Ty!" Buzz greeted exuberantly as he bounded over to him and let his beefy arm fall over Ty's thin-by-comparison shoulders. "I hear you had a close call out there."

"Nothing major," Ty assured him. "Just a suit malfunction."

"He couldn't breathe," Blayne added.

Booster, standing nearby, gasped. "Couldn't breathe?"

Blayne smiled at being the center of attention. "Not at all. And we were half a mile from the ship too," he illustrated the length of said half-mile with his hands. "I'm just glad I caught his distress call before the communicator went out, or I wouldn't have known anything was wrong. When I went over to help, he was already passed out, so I grabbed him and flew as fast as I could back to the ship."

Booster's eyes enlarged at the story. "Wow…"

"That's what I call cutting it close," XR commented, rolling towards Buzz and Ty. "It's stories like these that make me glad to be a robot that can go totally zip-zero dead and then charge back up again."

Mira raised an eyebrow at the chatterboxes to silence them then turned to Ty. "Are you okay, Ty?" Mira asked softly. "Suffocation's a scary thing."

With her, everyone turned to Ty and Ty fought the urge to step back. "I'm perfect. Never better," he assured them. Once again the victim, he thought ruefully. "Hey, I have an appointment back at Star Command, so can we get this ship moving?"

Buzz smiled at the proposition. "Good old Ty! Always ready to go."

He walked over to the control panel and seated himself. Ty stayed where he was standing and glanced at the rest of Team Lightyear.

"Should I fly 42, then?" he asked.

"Now what would be the sense in that, partner?" Buzz asked, swiveling in his seat to face Ty. "We were sent to rescue you guys—"

Mira cleared her throat loudly and cut Buzz off. Buzz had obviously said what he wasn't supposed to say.

"What I meant," Buzz started again, tentatively picking his words. "is that your reflexes might still be a bit shaky, and you shouldn't be driving until you've had some rest." Mira smiled approvingly on his recovery. "Mira can fly 42."

Ty broke his promise and didn't sock Buzz. After all, that wouldn't do much to back up his claim of perfect health. In addition, he knew Buzz was trying, and he felt grateful to him for that.

"That's understandable," Ty admitted and sat in the nearest seat. "So let's…take 'er home."

"Alright team," Buzz said with a smile. "You can return to 42."

"Yes sir, Buzz," Booster replied with a salute before following Mira and XR out the porthole between the ships and onto their own.

"Blayne, will you take co-pilot?" Buzz offered.

Blayne was overjoyed to comply and all but leaped into the seat next to Buzz. Buzz basked in his appreciation as he powered the thrusters and turned towards Star Command.

And with that, Ty was invisible. However, he couldn't manage to feel totally sorry for himself. There were plenty of people feeling sorry for him already, and he hated it.

"At least I'm still human," Ty said under his breath and laid a hand on his chest, genuinely glad not to be made of metal and locked in the brig. "At least I'm not the threat."

"Did you say something, buddy?" Buzz inquired loudly.

"No, Buzz," Ty replied, crossing his arms and staring at the flashing lights on the wall beside him.


	4. Discovery

Ty climbed down the ladder onto the starship dock back at Star Command and saw four LGMs and Commander Nebula himself standing near the base, waiting for him like he were the crown prince of Tangea. He dismounted the final rung and rolled his shoulders back, walking with as much confidence as his aching joints would allow. The welcome party was indeed for him, and for the purpose he had expected.

Commander Nebula lay his hand on Ty's shoulder. "Let's get you to the laboratory," he said as they walked. The LGMs stayed behind until Buzz exited the star cruiser and flocked around him as he ran to catch up with Ty and the commander.

"If Ty's gonna be in the lab, I'd like to be there with him," Buzz told Commander Nebula.

The commander shrugged. "Fine by me, Buzz. Though I hope there won't be much to see."

"I'm sure there won't be," Ty added, feigning confidence. "I'm probably just allergic to something." Never mind that allergies don't cause electronics to lose power...but no one pointed this out as they walked towards the laboratory reserved for investigation.

The rest of team Lightyear and Blayne stayed behind and talked. Ty had a good idea of the topic.

The laboratory and the LGMs that worked there were familiar to all Star Command employees from the commander to the janitor. It was a place of oddities, of double-thick walls and doors, of computers, cold metal tables and scanners. To be sent there was to be associated with unknown danger, to oneself or to others.

Ty had been there twice before, and watching Commander Nebula put his hand to the blue plasma pad on the wall by the doors felt like a trip back to his first examination. The doors opened and the LGMs entered first. Ty looked around at the large room, the strong rod lights overhead, and seven other LGMs looked up as they entered. A solitary metal table sat in the middle of the room surrounded by plastic trays on tables holding many types of tools. At least there weren't any scalpels or saws.

"The room hasn't changed," Ty commented.

Two LGMs took Buzz and Commander Nebula by the hand and led them to the computers. "You watch from here," they instructed. Another one approached Ty with a friendly smile, motioning with his short green arm to the center of the room.

"Take off suit and lay down on the table, please," the creature said in his high pitched wheezy voice.

Ty complied and lay on the incredibly low table, thankful that he was not lying bare on the cold metal. The table was the perfect height for the LGMs to interact with it and they milled about sticking wires to his face with suction cups and strapping him down.

"For better reading on machine," the closest one explained in response to Ty's look of hurt panic and held up the toaster-sized metal block intricately folded with wires and buttons.

The little green man set the contraption onto Ty's chest and flipped the red switch on the side. The cube folded out over and over like undoing an origami box. Eventually it was a flat sheet of metal that encased Ty's front to his knees and elbows, a blinking green light at each.

Adrenaline surged through Ty for no apparent reason. He knew it was just a suit; he knew he wasn't actually made of metal. So he reminded himself twice...three times. What was the big deal? Why did it bother him so much? He glanced at Buzz and Commander Nebula watching, concerned as he was that the LGMs would discover something dangerous.

An LGM approached with a metal mask that matched the rest of Ty's suit.

"I-ehm-is-is that really, um-" Ty stuttered nervously as if the little scientist had surprised him with a blood drawing and was readying the needle.

"Relax, Ty," the LGM soothed. "You won't feel a thing." He looked over his shoulder at the others already at the large computer on the north wall. "Right guys?"

They smiled in unison and answered, "Right."

Ty inhaled deeply. It was only a mask; nothing to cause alarm. It probably measured brain activity or something. "Okay." Ty let his breath go in a sigh. "I'm ready," he said staring at the ceiling with a firm jaw as if he were giving his executioner permission to shoot him. "Strap it on."

It actually didn't strap but simply lay on his face and didn't move or seal, which made it easier to handle. There were holes for breathing cut in the nosepiece and windows for the eyes covered in a green plastic. Looking through them gave Ty a spooky, claustrophobic feeling so he kept his eyes closed and focused on breathing. Breathing and listening to the people in the room.

"So what does this machine measure?" Buzz asked.

"Everything," the LGMs answered.

A stool squeaked as one LGM sat on it and swiveled to face the wall of computers.

"An overall dissection of the body," one elaborated calmly.

"Dissection!" Buzz exclaimed.

"Just a figurative term," the LGM assured him. His short fingers flew across the small keyboard and the suit began to her slightly.

Everyone stopped speaking while the first results were charted on the monitors.

"Circulation is good," one little green voice reported. "Heart is strong, but beating fast."

"Calm down, Ty," Commander Nebula said.

"I am calm," Ty replied, the metal mask slurring his words. When he did, one of the computers beeped politely. "What is that?" he asked.

"A notification that the machine's power has dropped a little."

Ty's heart leaped.

It was happening again.

He opened his eyes and struggled against his restraints. "I have to get out of this," he demanded, panicked.

Buzz ran towards him.

"Calm down and let the LGMs work," Nebula commanded.

Beep.

"Another dip in power," the LGM reported.

"I am calm!" Ty shouted.

"Careful buddy, or your mask will fall off," Buzz said holding the mask in place.

Beep.

Glowing eyes and metal jaws flashed through Ty's mind and he pulled harder against the straps. He was not a monster; why had they strapped him down? He was a space ranger.

The hum sounded like a staticy growl as it slowed.

Beep.

"Get a hold of yourself: that's an order!"

Beep.

Beepprrr...

The humming stopped and Ty calmed down. An LGM clicked a few keys on the keyboard.

"The suit is unresponsive," he announced.

Buzz awkwardly let go of the mask.

"So...what?" Commander Nebula asked, turning to the LGMs. "Do you have another suit to put on him?"

"No need," one of them answered as they all got down from their stools and surrounded Ty and Buzz. "We know the problem."

"And?" Ty prodded as they carefully removed the mask and pried open the rest of the suit.

They ignored him. "Strange. As the machine lost power, your vitals improved."

"Improved: improved how?" Ty asked as they unstrapped him.

"Just improved." the LGM shrugged. "Better circulation; quicker mental functions."

Ty sat up as soon as the straps were unbuckled. The LGMs had to jump to remove the suction cups from his face. He swallowed uncomfortably and spoke.

"Which means…"

The LGMs stared at him. "You are metabolizing electricity."


	5. Not Invited

"That is absolutely crazy," Ty dismissed nervously setting the suction cups aside. "Why would I need electricity? Look at me." He spread his arms. "I'm not electric! There has got to be a better explanation."

Commander Nebula laid a hand on Ty's shoulder. "This is hard for everyone," he said kindly.

"What's so hard about it?" Ty asked, standing up and pacing away from the commander and Buzz. "I'm fine. Perfectly fine. You can't conclude that faulty electronic equipment tells anything about me. Talk to the engineers!" He approached Nebula and Buzz, fuming. "Why does any of this have to be about me?"

Commander Nebula was soft deep down: every ranger and LGM knew that. However, his prickly shell was hard to get past and under the right conditions, it flared into defensive positions. One of such irritants was disrespect.

The commander frowned. "You listen here, Ranger Parsec," he said in his authoritative voice. "Mistreating your fellow officers is not how a space ranger ought to behave in a situation like this. So pull yourself together and weather this properly. That is an order!"

After a moment of digesting what the commander had said, Ty sighed and sat on the table. His shoulders hunched and he wiped a hand over his face. Commander Nebula was right: a good ranger would keep a cool head. Ty was pretty sure he wasn't a good ranger, but that did not mean he had to let it show any more than it already did.

"I'm sorry," he said, trying to keep his voice steady. He stared at the floor. "You don't know what it's like to be..." He sighed again and looked at Buzz. "I'm just...afraid it isn't over, with..."

"You don't have to say it," Buzz cut him off.

"What if we were only fooling ourselves when we thought we destroyed it? What if it comes out again?"

"It won't come back, Ty," Buzz assured him, shaking his friend's shoulders. "Trust me. Have I ever let you down?"

"This isn't about you letting me down, Buzz," Ty countered irritably. "You always assume everything depends on you. It doesn't."

Buzz frowned at Ty's sudden harshness. He opened his mouth to reply with something Ty figured would only irritate him more, but was cut off when all the monitor screens on the wall flashed to life with Zurg smiling smugly at them from his throne room, with grubs busily running back and forth. This got everyone's full attention and the argument dropped into oblivion.

"Commander Nebula and Buzz Lightyear," Zurg began pleasantly. "Long time no see. Well I suppose you've been busy with keeping the galaxy safe, yadda, yadda..."

"Why have you called, Zurg?" Buzz demanded, stepping forward.

"You're probably wondering why I have called."

"I think it's a recording, Buzz," Ty mentioned, crossing his arms.

"Well," Zurg continued. "I've been rather occupied myself." He held up a remote control. "This little guy controls a missile unlike any you can imagine, aimed directly for Capital Planet. But I'm bored, Lightyear. Pressing a button to send immediate doom isn't fun unless you have someone yelling 'Don't press the button!' So, I'll wait one hour. I yearn to see what you'll do about it." He indulged in a hearty laugh before ending the transmission.

Everyone was silent.

"Well, that was unexpected," Ty commented.

"Zurg is always threatening Capital Planet," replied Buzz. "It doesn't surprise me that he's at it again."

"I meant about telling us," Ty corrected.

"Zurg's a glory-hound," Commander Nebula said. "He needs someone to recognize his so-called genius."

Buzz and Emperor Zurg had something in common, after all, Ty thought. Though Buzz wasn't revered for his genius so much as his pure heart and perfect skill. "Come one and all," Buzz seemed to say in the midst of whatever he did, "Take a good, deep look at my heart. Try to find a blemish. Go on, try."

Ty didn't dare challenge people to find flaws with him: it would be too easy. Instead, he did his best to cover his stains with the pieces of himself that were spotless, hoping his blemishes would be eclipsed in the blinding light of his good points. It might work if he could get his good points to such a caliber that an eclipse would be possible.

"So," Ty began. "What are we going to do?"

The LGMs stifled chuckles.

"'We'?" Commander Nebula asked in amused disbelief. Ty would choose incredulous over amused disbelief any day. "You are staying here with the LGMs."

Ty's jaw dropped. "But Commander—"

"We've gotta figure out how to stop you from sucking up all our power!"

Ty swallowed in shame. His eyes trailed to the floor. "Commander," he said, doing his best to keep his shaking and angry voice under control. "I am not trying to cause trouble for Star Command." He met Nebula's eyes. "I am a space ranger."

Commander Nebula winced and rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't mean it like that," he apologized.

"Yeah," Buzz agreed, struggling to be loyal to his commander as well as his friend. "We know you're a space ranger. And you're the most selfless and devoted man I know."

Selfless and devoted, huh? Was Buzz just saying whatever popped up in his mental dictionary? But there was no joke in Buzz's brown eyes. Ty felt uncomfortable and it wasn't because of his recently discovered problem. Could...could it be that Buzz really thought that?

"Buzz, gather your team and report to my office immediately," Commander Nebula ordered. "Strange or not, Star Command can't ignore a threat."

Buzz clicked his heels together and saluted. "Yes sir," he said. "Take care, Ty." Buzz briefly put his hand on Ty's shoulder before trotting out of the room.

Ty's shoulders sank. "Thanks, Buzz," he said in a very unthankful tone.

"Be good for the LGMs," Nebula directed as he walked toward the exit as well. "They're trying to help you. And don't worry; Buzz'll put Zurg in his place."

The door slid shut behind the Commander and Ty was left alone with the waist-high scientists who had started milling about again.

"Good to know," Ty mumbled, sitting on the short table in defeat.

An LGM holding a clipboard approached him with a grin, confident in Buzz's ability to save the day. "We don't know how to cure you yet, but in the meantime, we will work on something to control your electrical field."

"Eh?" Ty grunted, confused.

"To stop you from taking in electricity so quickly," the scientist clarified.

"Oh." Ty nodded and tapped his fingers on the metal surface of the table. "How will you do that?"

"Feeder," the green men replied as one.

"A constant stream of electricity that will not burn out," the closest LGM continued.

"Like a lollypop," one at the computers called.

So they were going to placate him; let the wirewolf have what it wanted. Super. Fantastic.

"Do you need me?" Ty asked.

The LGMs shook their heads.

"No," the closest replied, writing on the stack of papers attached to his clipboard. "But we may need you soon to test the device."

Ty stood up and headed for the door. "Okay, well, I'll be in my room. So just call me on—" He realized he didn't have a wrist communicator. The LGMs caught his line of thought and deposited a small round device into a biohazard bag and handed it to him.

"Don't touch except to answer it," one instructed.

"Right," Ty grumbled, taking it. "Got it."

He exited into the hallway and made quickly for his room. The hallway was surprisingly empty for that time of day, but then Ty realized all the rangers were probably on the command deck, getting instructions from Commander Nebula. Ty shivered, feeling the chill of the air conditioner through his undersuit. He passed the vending machine with the good stuff: packaged pies and sandwiches. Finding the usually crowded machine vacant, Ty slowed as he passed it, eyeing the treats inside, and then the machine itself. He was hungry, he realized, but he didn't feel like eating.

He gingerly reached his bare hand towards the glowing light above the card slot.

Ty yanked it away in disgust, holding his hand with the one clasping the bag. He hurried past, his heart racing as he tried not to think about what he had almost done.


	6. Something Isn't Right

Ty lay on his bed in the dark of his room, the glow of the TV screen flickering across his features as he watched the recording of Zurg's challenge to Star Command.

"...So I'll wait one hour. I yearn to see what you'll do about it." Maniacal laugh.

Ty pointed the remote at the screen and watched the video dance backwards to the beginning.

"Commander Nebula and Buzz Lightyear..."

Ty set the remote on his night stand so as not to drain it and laid his hand on his chest. Maybe by studying the video, Ty could discover Zurg's weakness. That's what the displaced ranger told himself, anyway. Really, he was attempting to sooth his damaged pride by helping in the only way available to him.

"Commander Nebula and Buzz Lightyear..."

Why was he so irked not to be part of this particular mission? He hadn't ever been put on a Zurg mission before and there had been plenty of those.

Perhaps all the attention paid him during the wirewolf calamity had given him a taste for the spotlight. As reasonable as this explanation seemed, its timbre was all wrong. There was something else bothering him about the whole situation. But what?

Rewind. "Commander Nebula and Buzz Lightyear..."

Figures Zurg would only address those two. The other five-hundred faithful rangers were just backdrop, right?

"Just a backdrop," Ty muttered.

Despite the nightmare of his transformations, Ty and Buzz had worked closer during that time than ever before. Buzz had watched over him as if they were mission partners. One would think they would have stayed as such, now that it was clear Ty had it in him to handle tense situations too: now that the commander had seen how well they worked together.

Ty surprised himself; did he seriously want to work with Buzz, risking the inevitable teasing and humiliating rescues?

"Commander Nebula and Buzz..."

Something in the video caught Ty's eye, though it was gone before he could name it. He backed up the video again.

Commander Nebula—" There it was again: a little flash of light.

He backed it up.

"Commander— Com—" Ty paused the video and squinted at the light recorded in the lens. A light had shown at the camera for a brief moment from somewhere behind Zurg.

Using the slowest rewinding speed possible on the remote, Ty watched the light retract into a large machine in the background. He pushed the video forward a bit and the light shone again: not around, but directly through the Emperor.

Why would Zurg use a hologram of himself for gloating? Whatever the reason, it was apparent that Buzz and his crew were heading into a trap.

Ty jumped up and threw open his closet, because he wasn't about to go searching Star Command for Nebula in his undersuit. He pulled on one of his ranger suits and hurried into the hall, invigorated as much by alarm as he was by the fresh energy.

Ty stopped by Commander Nebula's office first, hoping he was in there and they could talk in private. He didn't want to make any more of a scene than he already had, but Ty found the office locked and empty.

"He must be on the command deck," Ty said to himself as he ran down the hall.

Every second they wasted brought Buzz and his team closer to defeat. Ty nearly slid around a corner, grabbing the wall to keep his balance, and slowed to a brisk walk as he entered the command deck.

Sure enough, Nebula was standing with his back to the large window circling the space station, explaining the situation to the rangers who may or may not have seen Zurg's transmission.

Ty stopped at the back of the last row of rangers, self-concious. The commander was giving out wrong instruction, leading all of Star Command straight into whatever Zurg had planned for them. Yet Ty wasn't keen on interrupting him and therefore having an audience of skeptics as he tried to convice the commnader of his mistake.

He stayed put for a few seconds more, trying to decide what to do. Maybe he could wait until Nebula was done speaking.

"And Deka, I want you to take a team to Capital Planet to aid in evacuation. I'll contact Madam President and—"

Ty couldn't afford to wait til the end of the speech. So with a deep breath, Ty raised his hand.

"Commander Nebula!" he called.

The commander stopped speaking and, along with everyone else in the room, stared at Ty. Ty's raised hand wilted a little.

"I have new information on the situation," Ty explained in his most disciplined space ranger voice.

"Parsec!" Nebula barked. "What are you doing out of the lab?"

Ty pushed forward through the crowd; some rangers stepped out of the way, while others blocked his path teasingly, but Nebula told them to let him through. Finally Ty was face to face with the commander.

"You're supposed to be lettin' the LGMs work on you," Nebula reminded.

"Just hear me out," Ty begged, glancing at the audience. A woman in the front had her arms crossed; two men in the back were talking and motioning towards him; Blayne was staring on in confusion. Ty turned back to the commander.

"I was watching Zurg's message over again to see if I could pick up any clues—"

"Clues to what?" Nebula asked.

"Weaknesses or—"

"Ty, you are not part of this mission—"

Ty threw his arms into the air. "I know!" Quickly, he cleared his throat and corrected his tone. "I know. But I found something and if you just watch the transmission again," he said as he moved towards one of the video screens, "you'll see it too."

Ty was reluctant to touch anything electrical, but remembering his suit was feeding him, he typed a command into the screen. Nebula and the other rangers gathered around as the video played. Ty stopped it after the greeting.

"Did you see it? There was a flash of light, right as he starts."

No one seemed to have caught it so Ty rolled his eyes and played it again.

"See?"

No one had.

"It took me a while to catch it myself," Ty reasoned, "but trust me: it's there." He rewound it again and paused, missing it. He rewound, but missed it again.

Commander Nebula chewed his mustache as he observed.

"How many times did you watch this, Parsec?"

It had to have been at least fifteen times, but to say so would make him seem obsessed and delusional, like Buzz had been about Zurg's pen. But Buzz had been right in the end, and likewise, Ty knew he was not mistaken.

"I'm not sure," Ty answered.

There was no laughing: just a few murmurs from the crowd. The commander was painfully silent however, thinking. Then he carefully draped his arm over Ty's shoulders.

"Son, you've been going through a tough ordeal lately with the wirewolf thing..."

Murmurs got louder.

"I'm not the wirewolf anymore," Ty assured them with a nervous smile, holding desperately to his credibility. "Don't worry."

Nebula continued. "Leave the ranger stuff to us until your back on your feet, okay Ty?"

Ty looked at Nebula pleadingly. "But this is really important, Commander. I think it's a trap and Buzz's team – all of us – are in serious danger."

"Because of the flash of light."

"Yes!"

Commander Nebula removed his arm and stifled a disappointed sigh. "Go back to the lab, Ty," he instructed softly as he turned off the video. "Don't make me have you officially confined there."

Ty glanced around at the crowd, looking for someone who believed him, but no one did. Everyone felt sorry for him; Blayne seemed ready to cry.

Ty frowned angrily. "So this is the great Star Command," he said disdainfully. "united unless someone disagrees."

He pushed back through the crowd, his head low. Everyone stepped out of his way that time. When he was several feet down the hall, he heard Nebula address the rangers again.

Ty passed a vending machine and stopped at it looking at his own fuming reflection in the glass. He removed one of his gloves and pressed his hand squarely on the light. Ty breathed in with intention and with the air came electricity buzzing as it trailed through his fingers, up his arm and was dispersed through his body.

With another deep breath, the vending machine was out of order.

Ty looked at his fingers in wonder; such a power could come in handy. He could disable weapons, deactivate tracking beacons... just like Nos-4—no. Not like that monster.

Ty made it to his room and sat on his bed, deep in thought. The communicator in the biohazard bag didn't show that the LGMs had called; who knew when they would? The ranger looked up at the video screen, still with the paused frame of Zurg's hologram.

Buzz and his team were in trouble, whether Star Command listened or not. If Ty wanted to avoid a potential tragedy, he would need to do something himself and hope the other rangers would come to their senses.

He knelt and pulled a small suitcase from under his bed. Then he opened his closet and took all four of his spacesuits off their hangers and folded them into the suitcase. He wasn't going to suffocate on a rescue mission.

As Ty zipped the bag, he thought of the consequences following what he planned to do. Whatever bits of a good reputation he had would be shattered. He could give up the idea of ever doing anything more exciting than filing - if he wasn't relieved of duty altogether. And being a ranger meant so much to him...

But what was the use of being a ranger if he didn't do his job? He thought about Mira, Booster, XR. He thought about Buzz: his best friend for as long as he could remember. Sure the guy was arrogant and thickheaded, and Ty knew that calling to warn him would do no good, since when Buzz pursued Zurg, he became deaf to reason. But Ty was pessimistic and clumsy. Who was he to judge? At least Buzz tried; he always tried to be a good friend.

That's more than anyone else had done; including himself.

Ty hardened his jaw in determination; even if he was mistaken, even if it landed him in jail, Ty would save Buzz.

He grabbed the suitcase and took what he thought would probably be his last look at his room.


	7. Bright Side

Ty didn't know what he would do once he caught up with Buzz, but he figured he would figure it out when he got there. There must be some way to convince Buzz he was leading his team in completely the wrong direction. If only he had been able to show them the video first! Not that it would have helped, Ty reminded himself sourly. It certainly hadn't gone over well with the commander and the rest of Star Command.

Why wouldn't they take something like this serious? Attacking Zurg when he hadn't done anything to deserve it could cause big problems for them, not only obvious-danger-wise, but also legally. Ty didn't know how savvy Zurg was with laws in the Galactic Alliance (not that Planet Z was part of such an alliance), but he could potentially destroy Star Command if he pulled the right strings. Ty knew that. He knew all about liabilities since the wirewolf thing—

Why did everything lead back to that?

Ty focused on steering the star cruiser towards Planet Z. The star cruiser had been easy to steal, since all of Star Command had been on the command deck still listening to Commander Nebula's faulty instruction. No doubt they knew by now that he had taken a ship: he didn't look forward to the consequences for that.

However, Ty hoped his being right would count for something. He knew he was right…well, he was pretty sure he was. Sure enough to be concerned and stop Buzz's invasion of Planet Z.

Maybe Buzz would listen, Ty thought. He flipped on the radio screen and called 42. A soothing screen with the Star Command logo greeted him and asked him to leave a message. Ty turned it off and urged the ship to go faster than it could.

Buzz had no way to know it was Ty calling him, so why wouldn't he answer? The team must have already landed and exited the ship.

"Buzz, you idiot," Ty breathed, checking the navagation screen on the dashboard, watching the small green triangle slowly approach the large red dot.

Ty circled the planet briefly, looking for star cruiser 42. He found it docked between two buildings in a seemingly abandoned section a mile or so from Zurg's main tower. Ty landed his own ship beside it and after changing into a new suit, climbed down the ladder and dropped onto the red muddy soil.

He ran to 42 first, hoping they were still in there and hadn't done anything destructive yet, but when he climbed into the dark cab, the lights flicking on when they sensed his presence, he knew they were already on their way to Zurg.

Ty climbed back down the ladder, heart pumping hard as he tried to figure out what to do next. He could call Buzz. Hopefully the protégé wasn't in a situation that the receiving beep on the other end would give him away. Ty opened the communicator and held it to his mouth as he eased himself down the ladder.

"Buzz, come in," he said, but the connection was faulty. Ty's heart beat faster. It couldn't be happening again. "Answer, will you!" he said louder, clanging the communicator against the ladder to loosen whatever dust or faulty wiring causing the static. "Abort mission!"

Laser fire ricochetted off the rung above his head, leaving a black streak across the top of his helmet. Ty looked below and sure enough, hornets gathered, blocking his descent. Ty looped his arm through one of the rungs and pressed his hand on his wrist laser.

But it didn't shoot. Ty cursed and hit it harder. "Go to Pluto, you Helio-forsaken bucket of—" SCRRRACK. Ty ducked another bolt and scrambled up the ladder, only to dodge a hornet whipping past him from above.

There were two of them—now three, hovering above him and a whole mess of them below. And because of probability, he didn't think the wings on his suit would work. They were at a standstill, Ty hugging the rungs of the ladder, the hornets hovering around him.

The hair on the back of his neck was on end. The air was different, electrified, and it sent a chill through him, and dried his mouth. Ty swallowed, suddenly thirsty and then realized what it was. Or at least what he thought it probably was.

Ty reached towards one of his gloves but then hesitated. He didn't want to test his theory. If he was proved wrong, he'd be blasted. But if he was right…oh, if he was right...

He grabbed the thick gloved fingers and pulled, exposing his bare hand. From the corner of his eye, he calculated the distance between himself and the nearest hornet. Arm's length, he thought. Careful not to encourage the hornets to shoot him, Ty moved closer.

If he failed…

Ty lunged forward and grabbed the hornet's slender neck with his bare hand. The hornet was stunned and did not fight. Staring sternly into the hornet's triangular eyes, Ty inhaled as deeply as he could. Blue electricity snaked up his arm, occasionally snapping outside his skin, flashing between him and and his prey. He watched the hornet's eye-lights dim until they were gone altogether.

When the hunk of metal and circuitry tugged his arm downward, he let go and let gravity take the hornet to the ground with a boom and a puff of red dust, taking out a few standing below. The hornets stared at their defeated peer for a couple seconds and then, as one, turned their heads towards him.

There was no way he could shut all of them off. His wrist laser didn't work, and he couldn't climb fast enough to get into the cockpit without getting shot. He was done for.

"Blast," he muttered to himself, squeezing the rung in his armpit.

As he surveyed what he was sure would be his last sight, Ty noticed that they no longer had their guns trained on him. That was beyond odd. Ty looked up to the hornets hovering around him. They were troublingly docile. Well, not troublingly, Ty reasoned. Docile is good. Docile is very good when it comes to lethal war machines, no matter how strange.

"Uh…" Ty repositioned his boots on the ladder and stood carefully from his crouch. "Go away…?"

One by one, they disappeared into the maze of buildings. In a matter of minutes, it was just him, 42, and the drained hornet. Ty climbed slowly down the ladder and stood over the drained hornet, knees knocking.

The more he tried to break away from Nos-4-A2, the more he seemed to become that monster. Now he could control hornets? Despite himself, a smile pulled one side of his face. He didn't even have to bite them. He just…persuaded…them to leave.

Though it was creepy and Ty didn't forsee much hope of ever undoing this – or many nights without nightmares – he had to admit that this new power was very good for the situation he and Buzz's team found themselves in.

He had become the invisible man: untouchable and unstoppable. Ty thought about this as he followed a main pipe toward Zurg's tower. When he ran out of air, he clicked his helmet open and kept walking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This came as a surprise to me while writing this chapter. First of all, I didn't expect to finish the chapter tonight. Second, I hadn't planned this new development to Ty's condition - it just happened and I liked it, so I kept it. I hope you liked it too.


	8. I Could Really Use a Wish Right Now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I listened to "Airplanes" by B.o.B and Hayley Williams when writing this chapter. It may improve your reading experience.

How could a planet made of coarse red soil get so muddy? There didn't seem to be much in the way of water anywhere, yet Ty's boots had gained an extra pound from the mud caked to the soles. He had a fine smearing of the red grime all over him, as well, from stooping behind pipes, squeezing between the too-close-to-be-residential buildings and generally staying low to the ground.

It wasn't hard to find Zurg's tower: his throne room was above every other building. The hard part was trying to think of a way to enter and stop Buzz and the team without alerting Zurg. Ty hoped he had drained the hornets before a message could be sent to their master, though he somewhat doubted it. Still, he wanted to stay out of Zurg's way as much as possible.

As he stared up at the outer wall of Zurg's palace, wondering how to get inside, he heard, among the clamor of the numerous mechanical buildings and the rising steam from leaks in the waist-high red pipes, the unmistakable humming of hydraulics. He ducked behind one of the red-hot pipes and heard the heavy grind of tank treads. There was no doubt in his mind that some sort of robot was patrolling, or at least coming his way.

His adrenaline spiked and he hoped he would not have to confront the hornet, for that was what it sounded like: one of the big red ones. What if it had a stronger firewall – or whatever it was that Ty could break through.

Keep going, he wished silently, leaning as close to the pipe as he could without getting burnt. Nothing to see here. Just keep walking.

The humming stopped with a hiss of steam right above him. Ty dared to glance up and when he did, he saw the end of a plasma cannon trained at his head, with a red hornet attached to it. Of course, he thought ruefully. Ty rolled out of the way just as a blast of green plasma dented the ground.

Ty ran until the pipe met the wall. He took a few steps back and then leaped over the pipe, just brushing it with his toe. It caused him to stumble but when he made contact with the ground, he rolled and, in no time, he was back on his feet.

The hornet turned its torso towards him and fired again, but Ty was too fast. He dodged and came around behind, pulling off his glove. Before the mega-hornet could respond, it was stunned into paralysis as its fully charged battery quickly went dead.

Before the deed was done, Ty had to refocus. Never had he taken in so much power at once. It was stressful, but also fearfully invigorating. This hornet didn't drop like the rest, since it was square in shape with a sturdy base. Instead, when its eyes went dark, its arms dropped and it slumped forward a bit, nothing more than a gargoyle in Ty's way.

Jittery from the amount of electricity he had consumed, Ty walked around it, pulling on his glove. But then he hesitated. What use were his gloves anyway? No doubt there would be several more confrontations before he reached Buzz. Ty pulled both gloves off and stuffed them into a zipped pocket in his spacesuit.

Holding his hands by his head, Ty weaved through the alleyways of Planet Z, ready to suck any future offenders dry, but at the same time, hoping he would not get the chance; because it terrified him, but he liked it, and it terrified him that he liked it. The area in which he walked was reasonably quiet, except for the hissing of steam and far off hum of machines. As Ty searched for his friends, the small thought persisted in a corner of his mind, that he was just as powerful as he was when he was a wirewolf – and almost as powerful as Nos-4-A2. If he ever lost sight of his morals – if his mind seeped into darkness – he might become… he might be the new…

Even in his mind, Ty couldn't get himself to carry the thought all the way through. So it haunted him in pieces, ever threatening to become reality.

A flash of blue caught his eye and he turned, to see Booster being pulled by the hand of someone who was already partially through the wall of a tall building. Ty ran towards them.

"Booster!" he called as loudly as he dared. Booster didn't hear him and disappeared through the wall. Ty stopped at the wall and kicked it in frustration before stepping back to find another way in. He was hungry again. How could he be hungry again? He had just devoured two robots within the last fifteen minutes.

Maybe this is how it starts.

He struck his own face. "Snap out of it, Ty," he muttered, "Mira and the guys need you. You can't do this right now."

Ty snuck around the corner of the building, keeping an eye out for security cameras or hornets. He walked the entire perimeter, but there were no doors going into this building. The only way in he saw was a ladder bolted to the side of the smooth, red wall. It went high enough that Ty had to step back to see the top of it. Who knew where that opening led – probably into a workspace filled with a hundred grubs – but he didn't have another choice. He had to find his friends before Zurg discovered them.

Hand over hand, Ty climbed the ladder, trying not to think about what would happen if he fell, and simultaneously readying himself for whatever would meet him at the top. By this time, he sort of hoped there would be a hornet – not a whole group of them, just one unobservant straggler – because he was starting to feel faint, and he didn't know what he would do if he let his…uh…whatever it was, get too hungry. Maybe his heart would stop. Then again, maybe his mind would.

"Stop it," Ty hissed to himself. "Stop it, stop it. Buzz and his team are in danger. This isn't about me."

Ty finally made it to the top of the ladder and started climbing through the small window at the top. He watched his feet to make sure he didn't trip over the machine against the wall right under the window. When he looked up, it wasn't soon enough to deal with the mass of hornets that had rushed him. Out of reflex, Ty pointed his wrist laser at them and let go of the ladder rung to fire it. Nothing shot from his bare hand, of course. The hornets opened fire and, Ty having let go of the ladder entirely, the lasers detached his feet from their rungs.

Wind whipped past Ty's ears as he fell towards Planet Z. He groped in vain for something to stop him. There was nothing within his reach.

If only his jet pack hadn't been drained!

Wait, Ty could drain energy, maybe he could give it back.

Trying to think straight as the ground came closer, he focused on putting energy back into his spacesuit.

No such luck.

Dear Mars, Venus, Helios, Pluto, anyone, save me!

The charging light on his suit lit up.

Yes! Yes!

Ty impacted with the roof of a shorter building.

He lay still and sucked the electricity back from his suit. Ty was afraid to move, afraid to discover what was broken, afraid that he had failed. He listened to himself breathe; he watched ships and hornets a league above, fly over him. How long would it take for the hornets in that room to find him? He didn't know. The only thing certain is that they would find him. Ty would be the one to alert Zurg of Star Command's presence.

Shock gave way to pain, and Ty closed his eyes. Yes, bones were definitely broken. He couldn't do this. Who was he kidding? Coming to Buzz's rescue. Ha. It would be funny if it weren't so sad; if his failure wouldn't mean destruction of Star Command. Maybe Star Command would be able to come out all right if Zurg filed a lawsuit against them. After all, who was Zurg to claim the law on his side? Maybe Zurg wouldn't even try. And then Buzz would realize that it was someone else threatening them, and he'd find the real perpetrator, and then he would stop them, like always. Yeah, Star Command would be fine without him. Maybe even better off.

Ty let his ear rest against the surface below him, ready to lie on that rooftop until everything was finished and someone came back for him.

"I wonder who is actually behind this," he breathed.

The building below him began to rumble. Ty opened his eyes and realized that he was floating twenty feet above the ground. No…he was lying on something solid but invisible. He lifted his hand and let it fall against the roof, which was smooth, cold metal. It felt like a ship. Ty turned himself over and tried to push up onto his elbows, but he couldn't. Lying on his stomach, he realized his breath fogged a circle on the invisible surface. It looked like a ship. It was probably empty; otherwise, someone would have exited to see what had crashed into it. Unless they weren't willing to admit that they were parked in downtown Planet Z. Why wouldn't they, unless they were sneaking into Zurg's realm as well?

Ty felt around for a hatch, an opening into the ship. He didn't feel any, but a foot to his left, rose an invisible fin. Ty realized how easily he could have been skewered by it. He dragged his broken body towards the fin and investigated it, hoping to find a way inside. He didn't find one, but he did feel a raised square. A control panel, maybe? It was locked and only accessible by what felt like a cardkey hole. Ty carefully reached for his leg and pulled a small knife out of its pocket. Many of the rangers had complained that knives were outdated and, therefore, should not be part of the space suit. Ty would never complain about outdated uniforms again.

Ty wedged the blade into the indent where the fin met the control panel. As he worked it back and forth, the panel began to give and eventually, he was able to open it up, exposing very visible wires. Ty was not a hacker. He did not know what to do with wires to reprogram a hard drive, or to gain access to a security door. But wires held electricity and electricity powered ships. Ty didn't know if he could stop whatever shady business these people had with Planet Z, but he could at least drain enough power to keep them from hiding.

Ty wrapped one of the wires twice around his hand and waited, to gather his strength. He just needed to break through the protective coating of one of them, and then he would be in their system. He pulled, trying not to further injure his back – or the rest of him. It didn't budge. He pulled harder and finally, when he was sure he would break his back, the rubber coating disconnected from the control panel. He sighed in relief and wiped the sweat from his brow, smearing it with red mud.

Although, if he broke into a computer system by draining it, he would be doing just what Nos-4-A2 was known for. Ty hesitated, the hand holding the wire shaking. If he started doing this, there was no going back. He will have done almost everything Nos-4-A2 did while he was alive. He would be following his creator's example.

"I'll stop them like a space ranger," Ty determined, letting go of the wire. He tried to stand, but had little to show for his efforts. Stop them like a space ranger? He could fail to stop them like a space ranger, anyway. Or he could stop them like a…like a…

"Oh, can it, Ty," he growled at himself, again taking up the wire. "This isn't about you." Ty put the end of the wire into his mouth and bit into it.

Electricity trailed through him faster than he had thought possible. His body warmed and sparked, and he thought he should stop, in case he was killing himself, but he didn't stop. He held onto the wire until the ship flickered into visibility, until he felt burnt to a crisp, until the flow of electricity stopped.

Stars like bursts of light danced across the black backdrop of Ty's eyesight. His head spun and he fell over, his face against the cold metal. It felt like he was back home on his own planet, back when Star Command was nothing but a distant dream, back when he would lie on the roof of his mom's apartment building, staring up at the stars, trying to guess which one was Star Command.

The stars faded into daylight and a small angry figure with a gun came into focus. What have you done to my ship? Ty blinked away the remaining stars and struggled to his feet.

"Don't move any further," it warned, pointing the gun at Ty more aggressively. "And I repeat: what did you do to my ship?" It was a Heed. Ty remembered reading that mission report.

Ty leaned against the control panel and looked himself over – the burnt spacesuit over his unharmed body. The pain was gone.

"I…I drained it," Ty replied.

"You drained it. With what? Are you an android? A weapon? Answer quickly or I'll shoot."

"No, I'm… I'm a human."

"Why do you sound so uncertain?"

"I don't know."

"Don't play games with me." The Heed approached him, leveling the pistol at Ty's eye.

Ty swallowed and stayed perfectly still. "I'm telling the truth."

From behind the Heed, Buzz climbed silently up over the edge of the ship and aimed his laser.

"I'm telling the truth."

Buzz shot, but the Heed dodged soon enough, so that the laser only grazed his shoulder. The angry little creature whipped around with his gun. Ty extended his hand and tried to suck the electricity from the Heed's laser pistol. Instead, he pulled the laser fire towards himself and absorbed it. That was just enough time for Buzz to tackle the Heed and wrestle away the gun.

Buzz opened his wrist communicator and reported the situation to the commander.

"Thanks, Buzz," Ty said, his heart pounding.

Buzz closed his communicator. "Don't go thanking me. I saw what you did." He smiled. "All I did was sit on the little stinker."

"Little stinker?" the Heed repeated, aghast. "I'll have you know I am a Heed! And soon you will be calling me, 'Lord'!"

"Well, not today, anyway," Buzz said, pulling the Heed to his feet and handcuffing him. Buzz turned to Ty. "How did you get that suit to send any distress signal? It's fried."

"I didn't send a distress signal," Ty replied, confused.

"You must have, somehow. Because one popped up on my radar."

"By the way, you didn't challenge Zurg, did you?"

"We were ready to. Actually, the team is still ready. But we put it on hold until I made sure you were safe."

"Wow…" Ty mused, then snapped out of it. "I mean, don't attack Zurg. He isn't the one behind that threat. I'm ninety percent sure it is all the Heeds' doing."

"They have tried something like this before," Buzz admitted. "Still, don't you think Zurg might be working with them, to throw us off his scent?"

"Why would the Heed go along with that, Buzz?" Ty asked. "I think Zurg is just another target, like the last time."

Buzz clearly didn't want to accept it, but there was no denying the logic of it. "I trust you, buddy. We'll leave Zurg alone, until we investigate further." He opened his communicator. "Mira, get everyone to my location."

"What? Why?" Mira said from the other end.

"Something isn't right about this. I think we should pull back and investigate further, before confronting Zurg."

"You mean Ty thinks so," Mira replied.

"Yeah, that's what I meant."

"Okay. See you soon," said Mira humorously. Buzz ended the transmission.

"Are you seriously okay, Ty?" asked Buzz. "And be honest. Please. You say you are, but your suit looks like charcoal."

Ty stood fully on his feet and flexed his elbows. He ran his hand along his neck, shoulders, ribs and stomach. "I'm fine. For now, anyway. But I think it's a different kind of 'fine' than I've ever been. And that," he didn't meet Buzz's eyes. "that scares me, Buzz. That really scares me."

Buzz gave him a hug, holding the Heed out to the side. "Whatever is, or will be, going on with you, you'll always be a space ranger."

"You can't guarantee that," Ty countered.

"Yes, I can. A person isn't a space ranger because of his suit, or even because of star command. He is a space ranger because he is willing to fight for justice and peace, even at peril to himself."

"Did you get that from the Star Command brochure?" Ty asked.

"And I've always got your back," Buzz finished.

Ty's sarcastic smile faded into the tortured worry behind it, and he hugged Buzz back. "And I've got yours."


	9. Epilogue

The rest of Buzz's team joined them at the now-visible Heed spaceship. It was not one of the large ones, like they had used in their previous famous attack. This one was small, discreet. It had few weapons built in, and would not fare well in a fight with either Star Command or Zurg. It seemed to be equipped for nothing more than secret transport. Ty was put in charge of making sure the Heed did not escape, as they investigated the spaceship; Ty figured it was Buzz's way of showing Ty how much confidence he had in him. Ty appreciated it. The Heed was about the size of an LGM, and alone, had no chance of struggling free of Ty. So he didn't.

As they explored the Heed ship, it became apparent that their perpetrator was working alone, despite the race's almost hive-like mind. The ability for one to act against the others excited Capitol Planet anthropologists and, while the single Heed only wanted to have Star Command and Emperor Zurg destroy each other, he ended up becoming an icon for the renewed debate about the ability of a community-driven being to distinguish himself. Ty could empathize.

All this passed through the space ranger's mind as he walked toward the mess hall. After all that had happened between them, Ty wanted to talk alone with Buzz for a bit. Not about anything in particular; just prove to Buzz and himself that they were friends. Ty felt the energy from his new bracelets diffuse into his bloodstream – or wherever it went. The LGMs had figured out that the way to keep Ty from absorbing power from everything around him, was to make sure he was getting a steady stream from something that would not wear out. In the mind-boggling way they invented everything else, the LGMs crafted two mechanical bands that fit on Ty's wrists that pulled unused electricity from the air, or something. Technology wasn't one of Ty's strengths. He smiled a little.

It is now, I guess, he thought as he plugged his meal card into the wall next to the door and the screen came to life.

"Welcome," it greeted. "What would you like to eat?" Various menu options appeared on the screen. Ty reached for it, but then paused, unsure whether he should touch the screen. He rolled his neck and loosened his shoulders before pressing his gloved hand to the screen. There were no sparks, no rush of electricity. The only thing that happened as a result of his contact with the screen, is that a hatch opened with his food of choice, and the screen told him to have a good meal.

Ty took his tray and turned as the sliding doors slid out of his way and revealed a bright room of all the other rangers on their lunch breaks. At a center table, near the back but directly in view, Ty saw Buzz. Buzz saw him and waved him over. As Ty walked between tables, people patted his shoulders and grabbed at his arms, in appreciation. Great job, Ty. Smiles. No whispers. No shifting eyes. No fearful looks.

"Hi Buzz," Ty said when he reached his friend's table.

"Ty!" Buzz greeted. "How's life these days?"

Under the table, Ty fiddled with one of his bracelets. His joints had stopped aching, his unnatural thirst had dissipated, and his suit had not yet lost power.

"It's normal. Very mundane," he answered.

"Sorry to hear that," Buzz said.

"Don't be," Ty said quickly, swirling his orange drink. Then he smiled at Buzz, a real smile; one that pulled at the unused corners of his eyes. "Normal is fantastic."

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am of the belief that Ty deserves more love than he gets. So, here is my offering towards that end. I hope I've endeared him at least a little more to you.


End file.
